Born Bad: The Story of Gothena Chapter 1: Birth of a Monster
by JeffEllis
Summary: This is the origin story of Gothena. It's set in the DC universe, specifically DCUO where new heroes and villains are created by an exobyte effect triggered by a future version of Braniac. This is not the story of another fluffy villain. Gothena is a monster and the tones of these stories are much darker than the usual mild tones of comics. The M rating is to reflect this.


Born Bad: The Story of Gothena

The life and dark times of Gothena, a villain in the DC Universe

Chapter 1: Birth of a Monster

Our story begins many years ago, in a small desolate town in the Appalachian Mountains. A cold fog hovers over the small river town, the mountains looming over it, blocking the view of most of the stars. A full moon casts light down on the fog, illuminating it in an eerie glow.

A frail woman enters an old ramshackle cabin, carrying a bundle in her arms. The cabin is dark, lit only by a rusted hurricane lantern and some half burned candles. Sitting at a ramshackle table is an ancient woman, pale and gaunt, her eyes sunken and her hair white as a driven snow. She looks up at the woman and the bundle and beckons to a chair.

"So, you have brought the youngin to me to have a look at?" said the old one. "Is it true? Is my daughter cursed? They whisper about you, that you can see these things, you know the truth of it" the younger woman replied, tears streaming down her cheeks. The old crone took the child, placed her hand on her forehead and started mumbling incoherently. After a moment or two, the old woman became silent and started shaking, laying the child on the table. She pulled herself up and hobbled towards a cot. "That child has a dark future. Evil follows her. I see nothing but tragedy and pain in her future. That child was born bad." The younger woman, sobbing heavily, took her child and ran out of the cabin.

A few minutes later, she came to the old church in the community, a small Baptist church not unlike those seen in most rural communities in the hills. She laid the bundle on the doorstep and fled. As the morning came, the church pastor arrived to open the church for Sunday morning service and found the child, with a note pinned to the blanket. The note was hard to make out, the handwriting poor and grammar atrocious but he was able to read it. "Please, help my babe. It ain't her doin', it ain't my doin', she just needs the grace of the Lord to help her. They say she is bad, make her good."

Many years later...

The young woman, clothed in an orange jumpsuit with cuffs on her wrists and ankles and chains connecting them, stood in the court before the judge. Her long red hair was unkempt, bruises and cuts covered her, giving her the appearance of being on the losing end of a brutal fight. Several guards, heavily armed, stood on either side of and behind her, with tasers at the ready. The judge rapped the gavel several times and spoke with a thick Midwestern drawl "Order! Well young lady, I see they final managed to wrangle you. Quite a storied career has brought you here. In and out of juvenile and several stints in prison for various violent crimes before you hit the big time. You have been found guilty of multiple counts of assault on federal officers, armed robbery, felony assault, and a host of other related charges but the big one, murder of several Federal agents involved in the multi-state man hunt for you. I can tell you, you aren't going to like a super max. It's not fun and games like those state prisons you were in before and you're going to be in one for the rest of your natural life which won't be that long. You have been found guilty and pursuant to federal sentencing mandates, I sentence you to death by lethal injection to be carried out in a hasty fashion."

As the judge raised his gavel again and was about to bang it to end the proceedings, several loud explosions could be heard from outside. The doors to the courtroom flew off the hinges, propelled inward by the bodies of several people. The bodies and debris lay on the floor of the courtroom and a tall, statuesque redhead strolled into the courtroom, alone. The guards pointed their tasers at her and fired, the electrodes bouncing off some invisible barrier and falling to the floor. They drew their guns, visibly shaking and fired. The bullets met that same invisible barrier and fell harmlessly to the floor. The woman, her eyes glowing white, reach out her fingers towards the guards and bolts of energy flew into each knocking them backwards several feet and leaving them crumpled on the floor. The judge started to stand and she again reach her hand toward him and said "This is no way to treat a future servant of the Goddess Circe." Again a bolt of energy launched from her fingers and the judge was propelled backwards into the wall behind him, sinking to the floor.

Circe looked at the younger woman and spoke. "I am the Goddess Circe. You are a dark soul. There is a spark of viciousness in you I like. It needs nurtured and cultivated. Right now, you are only a fragment of your potential. Come with me, accept me as your Goddess and your potential will be realized. You will become what you were destined to be. Your name will be spoken with fear and respect by those who stand against you. It only requires you to serve me. Will you do this?" The bruised and chained woman, struggling from her injuries and the bonds, managed to kneel and spoke "I have heard of you great one. I will serve you, my Goddess. Command me." Circe reach out her hand again and spoke. "Rise as my servant, you were born once, but today you are born again. Leave your old life behind. Rise my servant. You will be known as Gothena and will be a beacon of power to our allies and fear to our enemies."

Several days passed.

Circe led the young woman, now healed, towards a building in the process of being bottled. "This is your test young one. I can feel the potential in you but it must be awakened. I am going to transport you inside this building and servants of Brainiac are going to attempt to kill you, to take your 'data.' They call it digitization. If I see you again, you will be on your path to power. If I do not, then you failed me and should be glad you died at the hands of Brainiac, my punishment for failure is far less pleasant."


End file.
